Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award:
2009
Award Status:
Honorable Mention
Over a focused six-week period, the main purpose of this Professional Development program is to provide a ‘student’ experience to the designers, facilitators and student support staff of a primarily distance education university. The visual design, learning materials and directed e-tivities introduce academics, administrators, technical staff, and educational designers at the University of New England, Australia to the Sakai System and strategies to encourage interactive collaborative learning. The structure and framework of this online PD program encourages participants to gain a 'student' perspective of the capabilities of Sakai while learning about student-centred design. Multiple Sakai learning tools: Announcements, Schedule, Syllabus, Web content, Modules, Forums, Chat, Blogwow, Wiki, Mailtool; and administrative tools: Online tests (tasks, tests and surveys), Gradebook, Site Stats, Resources and Email archive are actively assessed while participants collaborate in analyzing learning strategy case studies. Participants engage with colleagues in practical activities (e-tivities) relevant to designing their own units of study. They are asked not to consult each other about this program outside of the Sakai environment, thus it becomes a 'distance-learning' environment.
Reflective and self-assessment activities are a significant part of the program. While this is not an accredited course, and participants are not graded for participation, assessment is of primary concern to all course developers. It is therefore essential that users gain both a content perspective, and an assessment perspective of the Sakai tools. Participants are able to gauge the relative effectiveness of their own progress for their own purposes. They trial the integration and application of various assessment activities, gaining perspectives of a variety of learning strategies for facilitating useful feedback to students. They are also asked to evaluate strategies a lecturer might use to reduce the time they are involved in marking assignments. The program is available, without begin or end dates, for university staff who wish to browse at any time. It is offered on a formal basis to each course development project team as new courses are redesigned from print to online format. During this focused moderation time an invitation is also extended to other university personnel who wish to participate, thus supporting cross-faculty networking.
Administrative and technical staff are encouraged to participate to gain a broad perspective of what their own responsibilities may be in providing a comprehensive online learning experience. In doing so, they also gain an understanding of the needs of the users of the systems they administer, via communicating and networking in the informal learning environment.
Course Information Course Length (number of weeks):
6
Course Delivery Mode:
Distance
Describe Other Delivery Mode:
The course is conducted entirely online to both on- and off-campus staff. Contact between course participants (educational, administrative and technical staff) is completely online. Participants are asked to discuss this program only in the online environment.
Average Number of Enrolled Students:
More than 60 students
Course Level:
Vocational/Professional
Course Development & Delivery Course Contributors:
Steve Swinsberg — UNE, Sakai administrator and programmer who initially established the Sakai environment in the pilot project, and who chose and made available the tools linking to other university systems.
Brylan Stewart — UNE, Icon creator (graphics) designed and created the ‘study’ icons used to orient users to various tasks. The koala is a resident of the UNE campus and a favorite mascot of university staff and students.
Gerad Todd — UNE, Programmer (template creation) created the learning design templates being trialed in this VLE.
Course Development:
UNE is a regional Australian university with about 80% of its students engaged in distance learning. Increasingly, distance education students have become connected using digital technologies, yet many of our administrative and academic staff have not reflected on the significance of changing from the instructional strategies of print-based provision to more interactive and collaborative online formats. In 2007, I was employed to work with project teams in the redesign of degree programs for online provision of distance education.
After a relatively short time, I realised that the concepts that most of the staff had were securely locked in the print-based distance education mode. It is relatively easy to introduce new technology to an organization. In 1998, WebCT was adopted by UNE as a distance education platform. Blackboard CE6 is the current approved LMS. Yet, enthusiastic adoption of these tools into socio-constructivist learning design has been a much more complex and difficult process. Sakai V2.4 is being piloted in the Faculty of the Professions—School of Education and School of Health—as an alternative LMS system. We are using Sakai V2.4. An executive decision has been made not to upgrade the system until a full review of all potential LMS has been completed (end 2009).
Version 1 of Design Reflective and Interactive eLearning was designed in 2007 primarily for Education Faculty. It has been extended to staff in the Nursing Faculty in 2008 and Early Childhood staff in 2009. Each focused delivery has been adjusted according to feedback received from participants, and the particular needs of participants. The initial format was heavily influenced by my participation in the Ikarus Project in 2003-4, where I gained a deep understanding of virtual environments as a student and then as a moderator.
The challenge in providing professional development (PD) opportunities as part of each of these redesign projects has been ensuring the PD needs are delivered in a timely and appropriate way. AND in a way that builds team interaction, sharing and deepens the understanding of the collaborative nature of learning design in a virtual environment. It has been an ongoing challenge to support each academic with the particular level of technological and pedagogical expertise required to provide for personal and group growth. Face-to-face workshops were impractical unless very focused and short. Finding a convenient time to share ideas of pedagogy and technical skill were fraught with staff inability to be in the same place at the same time due to teaching, conference, research, and committee schedules. Thus it became obvious that a more asynchronous environment and one that supported participation on a ‘come and go’ basis, was needed. The task was to create a process for staff to become aware of the differences between print and digital technologies. Thus, to change their perspectives (create deep conceptual change), I emphasised situated learning through guided exploration, scaffolding of tasks, contributing to shared activities, and collaborative small group work.
This program is structured so that participants can use the online system as best suits their work and personal learning habits; and also requires commitment to team-mates for the completion of a group project.
Course Delivery:
The Design Reflective and Interactive eLearning PD supports a ‘student’ experience. The use of new technologies affords movement beyond traditional models of teaching to more engaging and facilitative learning. This is true in the professional development arena as well as in provision to distance students. The focus of this PD program is not on what is known (product) but on how one comes to know (process) (Laurillard, 2002; Salmon, 2002; Siemens, 2004; Downes, 2005; Sims and Hedberg, 2006; Burge, 2007). This PD program has been created to bridge the gap between distance education course designers’ perceptions of how students learn, and how this learning might be enhanced using technologies. Ideas from cognitive and neuroscience (Jensen 2008, Zull 2002) are linked to those reflecting the need to be 'mind-full' rather than 'mind-less' (Langer 1997, &1989) in not only our own learning, but in how we use online technologies to support the development of our students' learning. This program uses the Gilly Salmon (2002) five-stage e-moderating framework, and her model for teaching and learning online through online networking.
While this PD program is structured within a weekly framework (using the Schedule tool), the e-tivities (Salmon,2002) and timing are flexible and vary with the growth and participation of the ‘students’. Announcements vary the work schedule or support learners with encouragement, feedback and additional materials as the participation suggests a need.
The first three weeks focus on building social presence (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1996) through introductions between fellow participants and exploration of elearning concepts. Participants explore the Sakai tools, access online tool-tutorials, and are directed to general background readings, available on the Internet and on the UNE eReserve system. All activities are linked to current lecturer practices and seek to extend those practices into the virtual environment. Participants are asked to establish a personal blog to use for both private (hidden) and public sharing of information. They are asked to build a course library with links to references they have found particularly helpful in their own learning. They are also asked to compare and contrast the tools being used in the Sakai environment.
The second three weeks are dedicated to collaborative work. Participants are asked to join a ‘common interest group’ in the wiki according to the teaching strategy they would like to investigate. All groups interact with a case-study: "Dan Tries Problem-Based Learning: A Case Study" (White 1996). Each group interacts with the case in a different manner. The case material has been re-written to focus students on the use of the learning strategy chosen by their common interest group. Participation in these exploratory groups is designed as a supportive forum of joint problem-solving and shared learning, where they discuss the roles and responsibilities required in this particular learning strategy.
As they engage with their case-study, participants focus on the design, development and implementation process. They consider the roles and responsibilities of various online participants. They are asked to consider and share how they feel about the online teaching and learning situation and how they can address these issues in their own teaching and learning online. Their group summaries are shared in the Forums.
Course Self-Assessment Communication & Collaboration Self-Assessment:
Excellent
Communication & Collaboration Evidence:
Many of the Sakai learning tools: Announcements, Schedule, Syllabus, Web content, Modules, Forums, Chat, Blogwow, Wiki, Mailtool are explored and used to build social presence, and network students leading to collaborative discussion and evaluative role clarification in the wiki. The overall focus is on digital communication leading to collaborative evaluation of a case-study. After gaining an understanding of each of the communication tools, students sign-up for wiki groups based on their ‘common interest’ around one learning strategy chosen from: direct instruction, case-method, cooperative, small-group, and problem-solving. The blogwow tool is used for reflections related to their case analysis as well as the collaborative dynamic. Blog entries may be public or private.
Learning Material Self-Assessment:
Excellent
Learning Material Evidence:
All of the goals and expectations of the course are clearly delineated in the course syllabus. Due to feedback received from staff, an Assessment tab has been created which gives upfront access to assignment information. This replaces the Sakai Assignment tool, due to the need to integrate into the university standard eSubmission system.
The Modules tool (Study Guide) provides essential resources and guide to the tasks for participants. The Schedule and Announcements tool are also used to guide and pace participants and scaffold their exploration of tools and interaction with colleagues. Participants have access to recommended reading and current information (links/urls) on learning pedagogies.
Learning Outcomes & Assessment Self-Assessment:
Excellent
Learning Outcomes & Assessment Evidence:
Gaining an awareness of how students feel in an online environment is at the core of this PD program. The stated learning outcomes are for participants to: (1) Investigate tools and strategies for teaching, learning and assessment in Sakai; (2) Collaborate in a ‘common interest group’ to evaluate a pedagogical strategy and in the process, share online teaching and learning possibilities; (3) Design and develop a range of ‘fit for purpose’ assessment and feedback strategies for use in online courses; (4) Discuss (sharing the summaries of those discussions) the various roles that make up the design, preparation, and learning support for online students; and (5) Enhance their own confidence in using Sakai tools, gaining a student view of online learning.
The course assessment activities are reflective in nature and in most situations ask the participant to self-assess their own learning. Moderator feedback is focused on encouraging participation, directing attention, and where needed, correcting misunderstandings. The online test tools are used to support further reflection. They have been set up to model online testing strategies, but are not judgmental. The aim is to gain points, rather than get a 'mark'. Users have the opportunity to stop/continue, or redo an assessment at anytime. They also experience a timed interaction test.
Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment:
Excellent
Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:
Graphic icons and templates are used to enhance the visibility, ease of use and structure of e-tivities. A common look and feel is promoted in all Sakai environments across the three projects and these are reflected in the PD program implementation. All courses locate the lecturer/tutor photo in upper left corner of the course website to ‘base’ the student when navigating from course to course. The School of Education has designed ‘action’ icons (based on the local koala mascot) to direct attention, and to add humour to the learning environment. We also use tool icons in the online context and learning materials with links to the tools. This supports the users to not loose their ‘place’ in the progression of e-tivities.
On initial entry to the website participants are given directions on how to begin their exploration. The message changes (is built upon) during the focused project team usage to reflect what users need to be doing to keep pace. Additional audio/video tutorials (screen captures) have been added to the website to support tool navigation and usage. Accessibility has been addressed throughout.
Learner Support Self-Assessment:
Excellent
Learner Support Evidence:
This PD site is also used to send messages to participants about face to face workshops which may be held for participants (guest lecturers who visit campus). A template tool has been created and loaded into the text editor as well as style templates and action icons.
Information about how to interact with the facilitator and how I will answer questions is available in the Start Here Tab (Syllabus), as well as information on how feedback is provided.
Podcast tool tutorials, inline links to interactive tools when used as part of the learning task are created to support and guide individual usage and learning. The Start Here, Study Guide, and Assessment Tab are universal and structured to create models which academics may then transfer to their own learning units.
Teaching Innovation Teaching Innovation:
Gaining an awareness of how students feel in an online environment is at the core of this PD program. Without some empathy to the student perspective in a VLE, university staff can become insensitive to the needs of the clients. Situated learning for academics has been successful as many users have commented on the ‘Aha’ experience as a result of participating as a student in an online environment.
It has been rewarding to note the increase in interest from university staff outside the project teams who have expressed interest in the collaborative learning environment. We have also noted an increase in the number of staff requesting ‘project sites’ where colleagues may store and share information, set up project schedules, and keep reflective journals on the progress of their various collaborative research projects.
This PD website has also been useful as a model of good online practice and identifying how differing individuals approach the use of the Sakai tools. The School of Health, Bachelor of Nursing Team have used the wiki to share each course redesign strategy and resources for the degree program, seeking online feedback from colleagues before implementation. The Early Childhood project team has extended their redesign project site to become the source data repository of their Participatory Action Research Project. That is, research team members are using the blog, wiki, and forum to update their reflections and discussions following each project activity.
Optional (screenshots, links)
